here is why unrealistic depictions of women in the media matter

From Photoshopping already beautiful women into unattainable, literally imaginary perfection to turning women’s bodies into objects, there are good reasons why just ignoring it or turning off the TV and not buying the magazine isn’t enough:

As Jean Kilbourne says here:

Turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person.

We see this with racism. We see it with homophobia. We see it with terrorism.

It really is creepy and disgusting. I’m not sure what else there is to be said. This is why I stick to amateur… oh… uh… forget I said that last part.

LaSargenta

No! Me, too!

LaSargenta

So, in the spirit of realistic women’s bodies…I’d just like to point out that Gina Carano is in another action flick and beats the crap out of people while on a zip line…In The Blood. Not that every woman can be a MMA champ, but her body is a real action heroine’s body and she’s no waif. Fortunately, I haven’t yet come across any pics of her that look photoshopped.

She hasn’t done any fashion or advertising modeling, I’d bet. If she had, she’d be Photoshopped.

LaSargenta

Someone recently, I’m blanking on who, might have been Kei$ha, got bizarrely photoshopped in publicity photos from a music video shoot. Like, it made her anatomically impossible — did strange things to her ribcage and neck…I’m pretty sure she tweeted about it.

So, it’s potentially out there for any female celebrity, I assume.

RogerBW

The lizard brain is simple. Show it redder lips, bigger breasts, whatever, it’ll go “yowza” more. This is a root exploit into human psychology and should be treated just like other abuse of complex systems.

Danielm80

It’s refreshing to see a film where–in a few shots–only one man is visible in a roomful of women. That hardly ever happens, even in documentaries.

I watched one of the earlier movies in this series, about 20 years ago. It was excellent, but I’m sorry that the films are still necessary.